Sunday, January 25, 2015

For those of us living in the Southern Hemisphere, our beach holidays are fast becoming a distant memory and I thought we could use a few visual reminders, and I'm sure our friends in the North have been dreaming of a beach holiday, to get through a long winter, so .....

.... I have compiled a post of enticing beach and beach house pictures for you to enjoy, wherever you are in the world.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Happy New Year to all Roses and Rust readers. It's been more than a month since my last post! I must have thought I was on a holiday!
In fact I still am on holiday, but because I am missing you all, I decided to come out of hibernation to do my first post of 2015.

Usually, when we entertain during the year, we tend to have dinners or braai's (barbeques for the non-South Africans) and usually invite about 8 to 12 adults. Christmas, however, is a whole different ball game. We find ourselves entertaining 20 - 30 people at a time! I'm not complaining - it's all very festive, but the logistics of having enough cutlery, crockery and glassware becomes tricky and, even more tricky, how do we store all this paraphernalia when not in use. This brings me to the subject of today's post - kitchen storage.

My preference for storing all those plates, platters, salad bowls and other entertaining essentials is a large, glass fronted, good looking cupboard, placed conveniently in the kitchen or dining room. Here are some examples...

A glass front is useful for being able to find things at a glance and keep them dust free, but other options are chicken wire which has a rustic appeal...

.....or a solid wooden statement cupboard or armoire like these below. Useful for storing things without having to arrange them in a visually appealing way...

Open shelves are also an option, especially for items that are used regularly....

Built-in storage is probably the most space saving option and makes good use of wall space...

If you have the space and budget, a butlers pantry is great solution. Here are some examples...

If you don't have the space for a full butlers pantry, a small closet or pantry area can work very effectively...

If you are in the market for a storage cupboard for your kitchen, these are some of my picks....

About Me

I am married with four sons. We live in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. Interior decorating and design has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I am also an incurable Francophile, enjoy good food and fine wine (actually any wine is fine with me) and generally living well.